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Levels
Beneath Boomtown lies eight levels of mining activity. There are eight known minerals on Umbra (not including the three by-products of bedrock), and the levels correspond with each's strata. These are accessible by the Drillship Network, via three entry points in Boomtown. These entry/exit points are marked on your map by a triangular drill bit, and passage is gained by double-clicking on the large glowing globe by a drillship. LEVEL STATES There are four states to levels, which can be seen in the drillship terminal display: Powering (yellow) means the level is closed, but power cells are being collected to open it. Open (green) means the level is open for business. Shifting (red) means a seismic shift is underway, and the level will be closed within three minutes. Dormant (grey) means the level is closed, and not available for power cell donations. OPENING LEVELS The top three levels are kept open and active at all times by the Nautilus Corporation, but lower levels must be opened by Prospronauts, who donate power cells to power the drill ships. It takes 30 cells to reach L4, 35 to reach L5, and so on, with 50 needed to reach L8. No level can be opened unless all the levels above it are currently powered and open. Thus, it takes a total of 200 power cells to reach L8 (or more, if one of the higher levels collapses before L8 is reached). Power cells can be donated to the next open level at the drillship terminal. The top three contributors for each level are shown until the level has collapsed. Prospronauts are reimbursed 4,600 credits for each power cell donated. COLLAPSE No level is open forever. Sooner or later, each mine level will collapse, closing it off and killing anyone unlucky enough to be caught inside. It's not entirely clear what causes collapses--time, explosions, activity--but for higher levels, it's generally assumed that the more mined out it is, the closer to collapse it gets. For instance, if no one is mining Illium, L1 can stay open and stable for quite some time. Lower levels, however, are inherently unstable and tend to collapse in short time, regardless of how much mining has occurred. L8 has been known to collapse within a few minutes of opening. Nautilus Corporation would like to remind all Prospronauts that you are responsible for your own mine safety. While it can be vexing to get trapped under four layers of bedrock, the tectonic shifts are a good thing: the constantly shifting earth of Umbra ensures a steady supply of minerals to mine, and a plethora of freshly unearthed artifacts. If you are at a drillship terminal, you can see how stable a given open level is. However, once inside the mine, there is no way to know how close to collapse you are. ESCAPE AND DEATH DURING COLLAPSE When the level you are in begins to collapse, your display will shake vigorously, rocks will rain down around you, and you'll hear the planet itself rumble. A 180-second countdown timer will be displayed at the top of your readout, and you'll have that long to make it back to a drillship and exit. If you don't make it in time, a rescue/cloning attempt will be necessary. (It is referred to as both rescue and cloning. It's presumed they rescue your gear and possibly remains, and your body is cloned.) On on all levels, rescue will reduce the durability of equipped gear by 10%, and remove all experience from your blue bar. Nautilus will also claim a portion of your carried minerals as payment for their trouble, starting at 10% for L1, and peaking at 80% for rescue from L8. PRO account holders are free of both the XP and mineral penalties, but will still lose 10% durability from equipped gear. If you frequently mine on levels 7 and 8, the PRO account will enable you to stay and swing a pickaxe until the bitter end. LEVEL CONTENTS Each level contains one primary mineral, two to four secondary or trace minerals, and special rocks. The exact percentages vary from shift to shift, but vitamin rocks tend to be the most plentiful, and mystery rocks are most evident on the lower levels. .